Tokyo Babylon

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Tokyo Babylon
Original title 東京 BABYLON
transcription Tōkyō Babylon
genre Drama, mystery , shōjo
Manga
country JapanJapan Japan
author Clamp
publishing company Shinshokan , Kodansha
magazine Wings
First publication 1990-1993
expenditure 7th
Original video animation
Country of production JapanJapan Japan
original language Japanese
Year (s) 1992-1994
Studio Animate movie
length 50 and 55 minutes
Episodes 2

The manga Tokyo Babylon ( Japanese東京 BABYLON) comes from the pen of the Mangaka quartet Clamp . He is one of the Shōjo manga aimed at teenage girls. The plot is a mixture of mystery , drama and detective story and is set nine years before the later released X , in which the three main characters also appear again.

action

The main characters of the story are the 16-year-old Subaru Sumeragi , the 13th head of a powerful family of yin-yang magicians ( Onmyōji ), his twin sister Hokuto and their friend Seishiro Sakurazuka . The main plot of the manga is the various supernatural cases that Subaru is working on. In addition, the characters and the framework are developed: It soon turns out that Seishiro has also mastered yin-yang magic. Since his name, Sakurazuka ( 桜 塚 , cherry-tree burial mound ), is the adversary of the Sumeragi, a group of assassins called Sakurazukamori ( 桜 塚 護 , cherry-tree burial mound guard ), who use yin-yang magic to kill , Hokuto jokes that he could be one of them. Seishiro sees her expressing romantic feelings for Subaru as the starting point of a Romeo and Juliet story.

The reader learns quickly that Seishiro actually belongs to the Sakurazukamori. The reason for his cooperation with the Sumeragi lies in a bet that he made several years ago. As a child, Subaru entered an illusion Seishiro had when he murdered a little girl. According to the Sakurazukamori rules, Seishiro should have killed Subaru immediately, but the child's purity and innocence impressed him. So he made the following bet: the next time he met Subaru, he would spend a year with him, protect him and try to love him. If this fails, he will kill him at the end of the year. Finally, he branded Subaru's hands with his mark and erased the memory of these events from Subaru's memory. Subaru only vaguely remembers it in dreams.

Events tumble when Seishiro loses an eye while trying to protect Subaru. Subaru realizes he's in love with Seishiro. But the year of the bet is over, when Subaru Seishiro tries to confess his feelings, an illusion receives him. Seishiro names him the loser of the bet and tortures him. Before he can kill Subaru, however, his illusion of Subaru's grandmother, the previous Sumeragi chief, is broken. Subaru's shock leaves him catatonic . Hokuto feels guilty for supporting Seishiro's publicity even though she knew he was dangerous. She goes to find Seishiro and confront him. She lets him kill her in order to weave a spell by means of her death, the content of which will only become known to the reader in X. Her death pulls Subaru out of shock. He vows to find and kill Seishiro.

Characters

Subaru Sumeragi is 16 years old at the time of the action and is a student at Clamp High School. He fulfills his position as head of the Sumeragi clan and one of the most powerful yin-yang masters in Japan out of a sense of duty, although he would much rather be a zoo keeper. The Sumeragi as the spiritual protectors of Japan are used to resolve various inexplicable spiritual incidents - often on behalf of the government. However, Subaru uses its skills even without a commission to help other people. In doing so, he is also ready to sacrifice his life.

Hokuto Sumeragi is Subaru's twin sister. She does not have his strong magical abilities, but has an excellent knowledge of human nature. The lively girl has an unusual taste in fashion and tailors her and Subaru's clothes herself. She also takes care of Subaru's physical and mental well-being. Therefore she supports the friendship with Seishiro because she knows that Seishiro can become important enough for Subaru that he develops a healthy selfishness and stops sacrificing himself for other people.

Seishiro Sakurazuka is a 25-year-old veterinarian and Subaru and Hokuto's best friend. Subaru in particular is attracted to the likeable young man. With his homoerotic allusions, however, he always embarrasses Subaru. But Seishiro is more than it seems. He is also magically gifted and a Yin-Yang master, whereby he belongs to the Sakurazukamori, an organization of spiritually gifted killers who, in a sense, represent the opposite of the Sumeragis. Hokuto suspects something, but Seishiro always knows how to evade her allusions.

Conception

The manga has a continuous storyline that mainly describes the relationship between the main characters. In each volume, however, two to three short episodes are told that initially appear self-contained and independent. Flashbacks and the use of scenes from these episodes condense the plot as the main story progresses into a coherent narrative.

The religious symbols that occur have no deeper meaning, but come from fashion trends of the 1980s.

Publications

Manga

In Japan, the series was published by Shinshokan and Kodansha in Wings magazine from 1990 to 1993 . The chapters were later published in five edited volumes. In Germany, the volumes were published as Bunkoban 2004 by Carlsen Comics . An English translation was first published by Tokyopop , and later by Dark Horse Comics . The series has also been translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Chinese. The French edition by Tonkam 1994, together with RG Veda, was the first non-mirrored manga in France.

Shinshokan published the artbook Tokyo Babylon Photographs, which contains 140 pages of illustrations for the manga and is designed in the style of a photo album.

Anime

In 1992 and 1994, Animate Film produced an anime that was published as an original video animation . The anime's plot focuses on the stories of the fourth manga volume. Directed by Koichi Chiaki and the screenplay was written by Tatsuhiko Urahata and Hiroaki Jinno . For the character design was Kumiko Takahashi responsible and the artistic direction was Yuji Ikeda .

The first 50-minute anime was released on October 21, 1992. On March 21, 1994, the 55 minute long second part followed. The anime also appeared in English, French, and Spanish in both parts. The UK release was falsely advertised that the film contained a phone sex scene . In addition, the background story was omitted in the English version and Seishiro's love for Subaru turned into a love for his sister Hokuto, which was easy to incorporate due to the similarity of the two.

synchronization

role Voice actor ( seiyū )
Subaru Sumeragi Kappei Yamaguchi
Hokuto Sumeragi Miki Itou
Seishirō Sakurazuka Takehito Koyasu

music

The music for both films was composed by Toshiyuki Honda . The credits of the first anime are underlaid with the song Kiss Kiss by Hideaki Matsuoka . At the end of the second you can hear Deja Vu , also by Hideaki Matsuoka. Two image soundtracks and single extracts of the songs from the OVAs were released later.

Real film

In addition to the manga and the anime, there is also a live action film set five years after the end of Tokyo Babylon . Subaru , now 21, has to investigate Yūkichi Kaneyama's mysterious death. He was an exorcist who was involved in a story about twelve teenagers with magical powers. The film, which was directed by George Iida , came out on August 21, 1993 in Japan.

reception

The series becomes surprisingly dark towards the end, according to Mason Templar, and closes with one of the most powerful scenes in the work of the group Clamp. In addition, the series is important for its Shōnen-Ai elements: The relationship between Subaru and Seishiro is never erotic, but always platonic, but still exemplary for the Seme-Uke dynamic that is typical of the genre. Tokyo Babylon brought these elements to a Western readership for the first time. In addition, the manga offers remarkable drawings that rely heavily on black and the use of photographs in the background. The frequent use of real places as a setting also means that the city of Tokyo is almost another character. The portrayal of the darker sides of Tokyo society shortly before the economic slump in the 1990s also gives the work a deeper meaning, but also makes it seem a bit out of date. The narration is sometimes a bit clumsy, overloaded with long monologues and cumbersome. Nevertheless, Tokyo Babylon could be considered Clamp's first major work. Despite numerous action scenes, the manga was told rather calmly and focused on the development of the characters, according to the German magazine Animania . Nevertheless, the story is exciting, and every now and then it also offers a bit of humor. The drawings, which are intensely characterized by grid foils and black and white areas, reinforce the gloomy mood.

According to Anime Encyclopedia , the two anime films thrive on the contrast between Subaru's supernatural goodness and the cynicism and selfishness of the people around him. Both films are entertaining, but they have their significance above all in the context of the rest of Clamp's work - in X , Subaru is drawn into earth-shaking events - and as part of a movement that emphasizes the elements of the Shōjo manga more in the manga and anime. Mainstream brought. Animania calls the two films "very beautiful, atmospheric adaptations of the mangas, which are still among the finest in terms of graphics and animation quality even today [1999]". If you leave the comparison to the manga aside, the changed English versions are also coherent and well told.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Jonathan Clements, Helen McCarthy: The Anime Encyclopedia. Revised & Expanded Edition. Berkeley 2006, Stone Bridge Press, ISBN 978-1-933330-10-5 , pp. 660f.
  2. ^ Paul M. Malone: The Manga Publishing Scene in Europe . In: Toni Johnson-Woods (Ed.): Manga - An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives . Continuum Publishing, New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-8264-2938-4 , pp. 323 .
  3. ↑ Manga scene No. 23, p. 42.
  4. ↑ a b c d Animania 5/99, p. 30f.
  5. ↑ Jason Thompson: Manga. The Complete Guide . Del Rey, New York 2007, ISBN 978-0-345-48590-8 , pp. 365, 368 .

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